Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fe‘ilātün / fe‘ilātün / fe‘ilātün / fe‘ilün

Al geyinmiş yine ol şem‘-i cihān n’olsun bu
Almış eṭrāfını pervāne-dilān n’olsun bu
Baḥs̱-i būy-ı ser-i zülfin ḳılar idik bu gece
Bezme geldi gülerek şīve-künān n’olsun bu
Bu mıdır mūcib-i devr-i ḳamerī çün ḫaṭ-ı yār
Cümle çıḳdı fiten-i devr-i zamān n’olsun bu
Dostuña dürli cefā düşmeniñe dürli vefā
Hele Allāh[ı] severseñ ki amān n’olsun bu
Żarb-ı şemşīr-i ġamın bu ḳadar ‘āşıḳ var iken
Vāżıḥa eyledi taḫṣīṣ hemān n’olsun bu

In English

1. That candle of the world has put on red again; what can this be. The moth-hearted have surrounded her; what can this be.

2. Tonight we were talking of the scent of the tip of her locks; she came into the gathering laughing and coquettish; what can this be.

3. Is the beloved's down the cause of the lunar cycle; all the troubles of the turning of time have come forth; what can this be.

4. To your friend all kinds of cruelty, to your enemy all kinds of faithfulness; for the love of God, mercy, what can this be.

5. While there are so many lovers, she has set aside the blow of the sword of grief for Vâzıh alone; what can this be.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal has five couplets and is written in the remel pattern "fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilün". The redif (refrain word) is "n’olsun bu" (what can this be); the rhyme is the "-ān" of "cihān, dilān, künān, zamān, amān, hemān". The last letter of the refrain is vav, and this poem is the only ghazal listed under vav in Babaarslan's count of letters. Since both lines of the opening couplet end with the refrain, the phrase "n’olsun bu" is repeated six times. In the word "Allāh[ı]" of the fourth couplet the square brackets mark a letter added in the edition. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The refrain "n’olsun bu" is an expression taken from spoken language, asking "what can this be, what does this mean", and it lends every couplet of the ghazal a note of wonder or reproach. In the first couplet the beloved is named "şem‘-i cihān", the candle of the world; her wearing red recalls the candle's flame, and the lovers who surround her recall the moths that swarm round the candle. The relation between candle and moth is one of the best-known themes of divan poetry. The second couplet is a scene from a gathering: while the lovers are talking of the scent of the beloved's locks, she comes in laughing. This small coincidence asks the ghazal's puzzled question in its most natural place.

The third couplet is built on concepts of the old astrology and is not entirely clear. The beloved's face is compared to the moon; the appearance of down on the face is thought of as a "devr-i ḳamerī", a lunar cycle, and with it all the troubles of the age are said to have come forth. In divan poetry the down on the face signals that the beloved's beauty is beginning to change and that new troubles are arising among the lovers; in the translation we have followed this general sense. The fourth couplet complains that the beloved shows cruelty to her friend and faithfulness to her enemy, and turns, with the idiom "for the love of God", into an entirely everyday plea. In the last couplet the poet wonders that, among so many lovers, the sword of grief should fall on him alone; this time the refrain turns into a bitter joke.

Bibliography

Online sources